An arch approach makes this bonkers thriller rather enjoyable, even if it never quite cracks the surface. The story comes from the Edgar Allan Poe story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, written in 1845, so director Brad Anderson (The Call) has fashioned the movie as bit of riotous Victorian mental institution nuttiness. Cue the mad-eyed acting, gothic production design and ludicrously batty plot. But if you take it for what it is, it's pretty entertaining.

It takes place in December 1999, as the new century is about to dawn and young doctor Edward (Jim Sturgess) arrives at Stonehearst Lunatic Asylum in a freakishly isolated corner of England. Instantly smitten with the inmate Eliza (Kate Beckinsale), Edward struggles to concentrate on the tasks given to him by his sinister boss Silas (Ben Kingsley), while being constantly watched over by the glowering groundsman Mickey Finn (David Thewlis). Silas' revolutionary system of treatment involves indulging the patients in their specific delusions, which has created a deranged sense of community in the sprawling hospital. Then one night stumbling around in the darkness, Edward discovers a group of people locked in prison cells in the basement, and their leader Benjamin (Michael Caine) claims to be the true head doctor. Yes, the inmates have taken over the asylum!

This premise allows the cast to indulge in a variety of hilariously shifty performances, hamming up every scene with constant innuendo. There isn't anyone in this place who looks remotely sane. Sturgess is fine as the dull Edward, while Beckinsale keeps her character's madness just out of sight, so both of them pale in this colourful company. Kingsley and Caine camp it up marvellously, while Thewlis adds a strong sense of menace and Sophie Kennedy Clark almost steals the film as an amusingly sex-mad virginal nurse. It's also worth watching the background players, as each has a ball his or her brand of craziness.

Bizarrely, this Dutch film tries desperately to wedge true events into the shape of an American thriller, but the action sequences are so lacklustre that a fascinating story ends up feeling dull and pointless. It's even been rewritten in English, using a random range of British, Australian and European accents. So while the plot manages to just about hold the interest, the film drags out the story and struggles to find any point of emotional resonance.

This is about the largest ransom ever paid, in 1982 Amsterdam. Faced with the collapse of their construction company, Cor, Willem, Jan and Frans (Jim Sturgess, Sam Worthington, Ryan Kwanten and Mark van Eeuwen) make a desperate decision to risk everything by kidnapping the billionaire head of the Heineken beer empire, Freddy (Anthony Hopkins), demanding a $60 million ransom. They manage to get him into their hideout, but are frustrated as the days drag into weeks while the police fret about the case, believing that they are dealing with a major international crime ring. The question is whether these amateurs can maintain their cool and pull this off.

Further wrinkles are supplied by the fact that Cor is expecting a baby with his girlfriend (Jemima West), who happens to be Willem's sister. This creates an intriguing dynamic between the two men, so the relationship depicted by Sturgess and Worthington is by far the most compelling thing about the film. Meanwhile, Hopkins does his best to walk off with the movie in a superbly relaxed turn as a cocky, demanding victim who's more concerned about his also-abducted chauffeur (David Dencik) than himself. All of these elements have the potential to add tension and intrigue to the movie, but British writer William Brookfield and Swedish director Daniel Alfredson never bother to properly deepen most of the characters or situations, while continually watering things down with under-powered chase sequences.

Alfred Henry "Freddy" Heineken (Anthony Hopkins), head of the Heineken International brewing company, was worth billions. When a group of opportunistic friends land on a simple 5-day get-rich-quick scheme, it involves kidnapping Mr. Heineken and collection a 60 million dollar payday. After months of planning and preparation for the kidnapping, they spring into action - perfectly catching and whisking away Heineken in Amsterdam and taking him to their secure, secret hideout. But here, things start to go wrong. Unable to get the ransom demands, the group discover that they are being toyed with by Heineken, as he plays them at their own game.

Stonehearst Asylum follows the plot of Edgar Allen Poe's short story The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether. It is a story about Edward Newgate (Jim Sturgess) - a medical school graduate in the 19th Century who travels to the titular Asylum to gain 'clinical experience'. It is here that Newgate meets Silas Lamb (Ben Kingsley) and Eliza Graves (Kate Beckinsale), the latter of which he becomes instantly infatuated with. Almost at once, things start to creepy as Edward encounters some of the inmates and realises that perhaps his new colleges are not entirely concerned with following regulations. As the plot thickens and Edward finds himself spiralling further down the rabbit hole, the questions seem pile up. Why does one of the inmates claim to be the asylum's superintendent? Why are the doctors so gleeful when using such barbaric 'treatments'? And why does the man in charge seem so adamant that 'we're all mad'?

Chris Pratt is bulking up for his role in the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Chris Pratt, the 34-year-old actor who has bagged himself some pretty tasty roles in recent years, is bulking up for his role in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Pratt is the latest movie star to undergo a dramatic physical transformation and posted his progress in an Instragram photo this week.

It's not the first time the Parks and Recreation actor has changed weight for a movie role - he sported a hugely toned physique for his role as a member of Seal Team Six in Kathyn Bigelow's Osama Bin Laden movie 'Zero Dark Thirty' last year.

Mad geniuses Tom Tykwer (Perfume) and the Wachowski siblings (The Matrix) boldly take on David Mitchell's layered epic novel, which connects six generations through the power of storytelling. The film takes so many huge risks that it's breathtaking to watch even when it stumbles. And as each tale is passed on to the next generation, the swirling themes get under the skin.

The six stories are interlinked in a variety of ways, transcending time to find common themes. On a ship in 1849, a seriously ill American lawyer (Sturgess) shows kindness to a stowaway ex-slave (Gyasi). In 1936 Edinburgh, a great composer (Broadbent) hires a musician (Whishaw) to transcribe his work, then tries to steal the young man's magnificent Cloud Atlas symphony. In 1973 San Francisco, a Latina journalist (Berry) gets a tip about dodgy goings on in a local nuclear power plant. In present-day London, a publisher (Broadbent) is trapped in a nursing home by his brother (Grant) and plots a daring escape. In 2144 Neo Soul, an official (D'Arcy) interrogates a replicant (Bae) who started a rebellion alongside a notorious rebel (Sturgess). And in a distant stone-age future, an island goatherd (Hanks) teams up with an off-worlder (Berry) when they're attacked by a warlord (Grant).

While the themes in this film are eerily involving, what makes this film unmissable is the way the entire cast turns up in each of the six story strands, changing age, race and gender along the way. Even so, they're essential variations on each other. Weaving is always a nemesis, whether he's a hitman, a demon or a nasty nurse. Hanks' characters are always strong-willed and often badly misguided. Grant goes against type to play sinister baddies. And D'Arcy is the only actor who plays the same character in two segments, as Whishaw's 1930s young lover and Berry's 1970s elderly informant. Meanwhile, each segment plays with a different genre: seafaring epic, twisted drama, political mystery, action comedy, sci-fi thriller and gritty adventure.

Adam lives in the only solar system that has two twin planets with opposite gravitational pulls. The Down world is the poorer, underclass world that resides below the Up world; a upper class, corporate world for the wealthy. It is forbidden for anyone to venture to one of the other worlds but since he was a child, Adam has visited a high mountain that gets him as close to Up as possible. It is there he meets a girl, Eden, who he becomes romantically involved with; the pair of them attempting contact by climbing to each other but Adam is shot by officials and Eden falls to her apparent death. However, Adam soon learns that she is alive and well and uses a number of methods to gain access to the Up world to meet her again. However, their union proves less than easy as the law attempts to keep them as far apart as possible. But can their love conquer gravity?

'Upside Down' is the upcoming romance fantasy flick directed and written by Juan Solanas ('Jack Waltzer: On the Craft of Acting', 'Northeast'). It is a mind-blowing story that is due to be released in US cinemas on March 15th 2013.

With his upcoming film, Cloud Atlas ready for release later this month, one of the film’s stars, Tom Hanks, has alluded to the deep plotline that runs through the book adaptation and said that the film is as “risky as Inception” was when it was release in 2010.

Hanks was plugging his new film during a chat with Canadian paper The Montreal Gazette, when he brought up the Christopher Nolan film, suggesting that it was the closest thing to compare to his latest movie outing. Cloud Atlas follows the intertwining lives of a massive cast that drifts between centuries both past and present, examining the impact of fate on good and bad behaviour.

In his discussion, he not only had praises to sing for Brit-director Nolan, but also his three “bold” directors for the upcoming project; Tom Tykwer and Lana and Andy Wachowski. And if three directors were a lot to take on board, then the number of characters the actors have to transform themselves into throughout the film will take some effort to get your heads round too, with Hanks alone taking on 6 different roles.

'Cloud Atlas' is the story of how the separate lives of individuals and their actions affect each other through time. It explores a variety of different themes making it difficult to be pigeon-holed into a particular genre; action, romance and drama create the twists and turns that can change a human being from being a violent killer to being a compassionate hero. This tale explores how one act of basic humanity can influence a revolution centuries into the future.

Jim Sturgess, the English actor and musician who rose to fame in the 2007 flick 'Across the Universe', speaking about his upcoming movie 'One Day'. Sturgess stars alongside Anne Hathaway in the drama about two college graduates who begin a lifetime friendship.

When quizzed about his time on set, Jim joked that security were so keen to look after himself and Hathaway that he was chaperoned to the toilet, saying, "They wouldn't dare lose either me or Anne I don't think", adding, "That's always the weirdest thing about being in films.If you go to the toilet, there's always someone waiting for you"